Human
by Vegetarian Salad
Summary: What is revealed when our shields are washed away? RaitoxL


Note from the Author: Probably my first and only attempt at a Death Note one-shot. I've never used the OOC shovel on anyone but Naruto characters, but I think Raito and L deserve it in this one. I think part of the idea for this is that they are both childish to a certain degree, and also, I've always wanted to write this one-shot! I just couldn't figure out which pairing to use.

I disclaim.

**Human**

Raito was restless.

Despite the amount of energy he expended in his attempts to throw L off his trail, he had enough left over to resent the four walls that kept him confined, and to resent the chain that kept him constantly attached to his rival.

He was patient, _known _for his patience, for the careful way he calculated every movement he made, but he was feeling almost suffocated now, trapped by the game that he had so much enjoying playing – _still _enjoyed playing – and felt the need to escape.

He knew that L could feel it, could sense his distraction, the way he tugged at the chain like maybe he could break it if he pulled hard enough. He knew that L was finding his behavior more suspicious than usual, which was probably not helping his cause. But his current need for freedom was innocently human. He was just tired of seeing a ceiling instead of the sky.

"Raito-kun?"

He looked up from the computer at which he had been staring mindlessly for nearly five hours. "What is it, Ryuuzaki?"

The dark eyes had turned toward a monitor showing the entrance to the building. It had rained the night before, and now the sun shone bright on the wet pavement. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

And that's how they came to venture outside. They walked close together, winding the chain up into their hands, trying to remain inconspicuous. When they found a chance, they dodged into a nearby park, wandering through the grass, enjoying the fresh feel of a day that everyone had deserted as wet and uncomfortable.

Raito didn't mind the way his shoes sunk into the mud. This was going to be his perfect world soon enough, rain and all. He would enjoy every aspect of it that he could. As soon as L was dead, he would reign as god.

Frowning, he glanced at his companion, who grimaced with each squishing step. "Would you rather walk on the sidewalk, Ryuuzaki?" Without waiting for his answer, he turned that way, pulling him along by the chain.

Of course, L hadn't been expecting the sudden movement, and stumbled, barely shifting his feet so that when he fell with a disgruntled snort, he didn't eat a large helping of mud.

Raito startled at the jerk on the end of the chain and turned, staring down at L, who was sitting in the wetness, a perturbed expression twisting his lips, like he had never felt something so foreign in his life. An impulse clutched Raito's chest that he hadn't felt in a long time, and despite his attempts at swallowing it, he began to laugh.

Now, most geniuses don't like to be the butt of a joke, and L was no exception. His bottom lip stuck out in something near a pout, he tugged hard on the chain, cutting the mirth short as Raito came sprawling beside him, his whole back painted with mud. His glare was pointed as he sat up, distinctly aware of the mud in his hair, and the laughter seemed suddenly dark with that look. "That was unnecessary, Ryuuzaki."

L's lips curled in a slight smirk, an expression most would have missed, and his dark eyes turned upward. "I found it was most necessary. I don't like to look like a fool by myself."

"You don't look like a fool at all." Raito was trying in vain to find a clean patch of his sleeve with which to wipe his face. "You look rather human to me." He risked a glance into those dark eyes that so constantly stared at him, the white around those irises contrasting so starkly that he looked otherworldly.

"Yes, I _am _human, aren't I?" A long finger touched the side of his chin thoughtfully, his head tilted back as if on a hinge. "Is that okay? To be just human?"

Raito remembered suddenly that they were still sitting in the mud, and he flicked the brown colloid at his friend, watching in subdued fascination as it speckled his pallid skin. "Yes, it _is _okay to be human."

Those eyes, looking so permanently shocked, shifted to him. The way they gazed at each other was close to unreadable; they seemed like polar opposites and twins at once, their expressions matching.

The trees whispered, and then the soft speech became hurried, frantic; and the quiet clatter of rain began again around them. Their eyes broke from each other's to stare up at the sky, the moment seemingly lost. "Ah," L's voice was quiet, barely to be heard over the insistent rush of falling water. His hair lay soaked against his head already, and dripping bangs distorted the view of his face. "I thought the rain was coming again. I didn't expect it this soon."

Raito sighed. "We'll both get sick if we stay out here too long." He made no attempt to get up.

L didn't move either, and his eyes closed, letting the rain kiss his face, running like little creatures across his skin. "I like the rain." He admitted, then paused. "It's cold."

Raito rattled the chain, hunching against the downpour. "That's why we should go in, Ryuuzaki."

The muscle in his cheek twitched at the clinked of metal. "I like the cold." His voice was so quiet, his companion almost didn't catch his words. There was something in his tone, something mournful, maybe longing, or lonely.

Raito sensed that vulnerability, that childlike wonder, but his mind didn't react to it as it should have. He found himself not reeling to use it to his advantage, and for some reason, he pulled himself up to his knees, and t he diluted mud sank through his pants. "You really are only human, aren't you?" And his fingers twisted into the thick, dark hair.

Those eyes, like pools dark with night, connected with his in surprise, as if unused to tenderness. If his eyes could open any further, they would have as Raito leaned close to him, bringing their lips together.

The eyes closed in a moment, and Raito remained still, his hand on the beautiful white skin that jumped with L's racing pulse, thumb lightly running along his jaw. And suddenly, he felt like he was falling into him, or falling in love – before he realized that he was actually falling.

L's back hit the ground, his face frozen in shock like those startled with death. His spidery fingers clutched Raito's jacket, and he stared at him, breath caught as their eyes met.

And Raito once against found their situation ridiculously comical, and he shook his head, chuckling softly into the sodden shirt of his companion. "This is going to be impossible to explain."

L's fingers were lacing through the other boy's hair. "We're human," his words vibrated through his body, and Raito could feel them as much as hear them. "But we're more than that too."

Raito hoisted himself onto his elbows, gazing down at the man he had somehow _not _been crushing beneath his weight. He seemed so comfortably open, like a child with no sins to hide. His hands were restless across Raito's neck, skimming along his hairline in an affectionate, trembling way. "Ryuuzaki, what are we if we're more than humans?"

Their lips were ghosting dangerously close again, and L's eyes looked like they were once again on the verge of closing. Beneath him, Raito's arms seemed to be sinking into the mud again, and he suddenly remembered the rain splattering familiarly across his shoulder blades, finding this somehow romantic even as he wondered why they weren't back at headquarters curling up in bed with hot chocolate.

Then his mouth was on L's again, and a jolt of warmth rang through him as they pressed together desperately. Somehow, even in these strange circumstances, with the wet, dark world turning on an axis that seemed to send them spinning, Raito felt so calm, like this was all part of the plan.

The answer came close to his ear, enigmatic and hoarse: "What are we not, Raito-kun?"


End file.
